Scottish Parliament

Written Answers

Monday 6 December 1999

Scottish Executive

Asylum Seekers

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will confirm that the Home Office has taken over Adamton House in Monkton with a view to using it as a hostel for asylum seekers and, if so, at what stage plans are towards bringing it into use and what local consultation there has been.

Iain Gray: It has not. I understand that the Home Office has not yet contracted for the provision of any accommodation in relation to the new arrangements for supporting asylum seekers which comes into effect from 1 April, whether in Scotland or elsewhere.

Community Care

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that young carers under the age of 16 years are entitled to request an assessment under the provisions of the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995.

Iain Gray: As indicated in our paper Strategy for Carers in Scotland and as discussed in the debate on 25 November, the carers’ legislation working group which we are setting up will consider what provisions are necessary to ensure that carers under 16 years can have an assessment of their care needs.

Culture

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the proportion is of grant aid distributed by the Scottish Arts Council that has gone to the national companies (Scottish Ballet, Scottish Opera, Royal Scottish National Orchestra) for each of the last three financial years for which figures are available and, further to the answer to question S1W-2391 by Mr Sam Galbraith on 8 November 1999, what the actual and estimated allocation is to each in the current and next financial year.

Rhona Brankin: Full details of the Scottish Arts Council’s grants to the four National Companies over the last three years are shown below, together with the SAC forecast for 2000-01 and 2001-02:

  National Companies Grants

  


 


 


Forecast 
  



1997-98
£ 
  

1998-99
£ 
  

1999-2000
£ 
  

2000-01
£ 
  

2001-02
£ 
  




Scottish Opera 
  

4,670,290 
  

6,010,600 
  

6,085,530 
  

6,314,887 
  

6,472,759 
  



RSNO 
  

1,841,750 
  

2,310,550 
  

2,339,350 
  

2,427,522 
  

2,488,210 
  



Scottish Chamber Orchestra 
  

1,000,000 
  

1,290,600 
  

1,306,690 
  

1,355,937 
  

1,389,835 
  



Scottish Ballet 
  

2,121,000 
  

2,121,000 
  

2,151,180 
  

2,228,376 
  

2,284,085 
  



Ballet Development Fund 
  

 


300,000 
  

300,000 
  

300,000 
  

300,000 
  



Touring Funds 
  

46,000 
  

 


 


 


 




NCCG Money 
  

2,400,000 
  

 


 


 


 




 


12,079,040 
  

12,032,750 
  

12,182,750 
  

12,626,722 
  

12,934,889 
  



 


 


 


 


 


 




 


£ million 
  

£ million 
  

£ million 
  

£ million 
  

£ million 
  



SAC Arts Expenditure 
  

25.437 
  

25.676 
  

26.589 
  

28.042 
  

29.422 
  



National Companies 
  

12.079 
  

12.033 
  

12.183 
  

12.627 
  

12.935 
  



Proportion 
  

47.49% 
  

46.86% 
  

45.82% 
  

45.03% 
  

43.96%

Culture

Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to acknowledge or honour the work of Nigel Tranter in promoting, through his many books, Scottish history and other Scottish causes on the occasion of his 90th birthday on 23 November.

Rhona Brankin: It gives me great pleasure to honour Nigel Tranter’s 90th birthday. Through his writing over many decades he has brought alive to generations of readers in Scotland and beyond a fascinating array of people and events from our rich and varied history. He is to be congratulated on his creative energy and contribution to Scottish literature and history.

Food

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what topics are to be covered by the review of "red tape" in the meat industry.

Susan Deacon: The Group’s remit is to explore urgently and rigorously the regulatory burdens on the meat industry to see if there are ways of doing things better and to root out unnecessary restrictions. Specific areas being considered include –

  Meat hygiene rules and Meat Hygiene Service procedures and hygiene inspection charges.

  BSE requirements, including specified risk materials, beef on the bone and the over thirty month rule.

  By products and rendering material.

Food

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when the review of "red tape" in the meat industry is to be completed, and when and how the results will be made public.

Susan Deacon: The report of the Meat Industry Red Tape Working Group will be presented to Ministers by the end of December and published thereafter.

Food

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive when the efficiency study into the Meat Hygiene Service is to be completed, and when and how the results will be made public.

Susan Deacon: The efficiency review of the Meat Hygiene Service has been completed and a report submitted for consideration by the Meat Industry Red Tape Working Group. The report of the Working Group detailing conclusions and recommendations will be presented to Ministers by the end of December and the findings published thereafter.

Geese

Mr Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-1898 by Sarah Boyack on 25 October 1999, when the report by the National Goose Forum will be published and what the consultation period will be.

Sarah Boyack: I envisage that the report will be published early in the New Year, with a two-month consultation period, during which time we will also arrange for the report to be considered by the Parliament’s relevant committees.

Geese

Mr Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, in the light of Scottish National Heritage’s calculation in 1996 that the cost to farmers on Islay from damage done by protected Greenland geese was at least £14 per bird, what is the justification for the payment of £10.70 in 1999.

Sarah Boyack: These payments are made under the Islay Voluntary Goose Management Scheme (IVGMS), which is entirely the responsibility of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).

  Under the IVGMS, SNH aims to compensate for additional impacts resulting from the protected status of the geese under the EC Birds Directive, rather than to compensate in full for all damage caused by geese. I understand that SNH have continued to increase the total funds disbursed through the IVGMS as goose populations have increased.

Geese

Mr Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive given the rise in the protected Greenland goose population on Islay from 36,800 birds in 1993 to 49,300 in 1999, what plans it has for their future management.

Sarah Boyack: The principal objective of the National Goose Forum is to propose a new national policy framework to manage the interaction between Scotland’s goose populations and agricultural interests. It is our intention that this new policy framework will provide the basis for management of all goose populations breeding and wintering in Scotland, including Greenland geese.

Health

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will seek the discontinuation of PVC saline bags following withdrawal of such bags by the US Food and Drug Administration over concerns regarding the release of toxins.

Susan Deacon: No. Advice from the Medicines Control Agency is that the use of pre-filled plasticised PVC bags containing infusion solutions such as sodium chloride is not considered to pose any unacceptable risk to patients.

  It is understood that the US Food and Drug Administration has not withdrawn PVC bags but is undertaking a risk assessment of a specific plasticiser, which was scheduled for completion at the end of November.

Health

Kay Ullrich (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive to specify, for each year over the period 1988 to 1998, the level of government expenditure in Scotland on health and within that on the treatment of (i) cancer (ii) coronary heart disease and (iii) cerebrovascular disease.

Susan Deacon: The total net expenditure on the NHS in Scotland over the last 10 years is as follows:

  


Year 
  

£000 
  



1988-89 
  

2,501,000 
  



1989-90 
  

2,720,946 
  



1990-91 
  

2,971,997 
  



1991-92 
  

3,342,545 
  



1992-93 
  

3,668,313 
  



1993-94 
  

3,776,519 
  



1994-95 
  

3,948,001 
  



1995-96 
  

4,092,470 
  



1996-97 
  

4,237,356 
  



1997-98 
  

4,353,695 
  



1998-99 
  

4,612,997 
  



  We do not have figures showing total expenditure on cancer, coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. Information about the costs of services is not collected at the level of detail that would be required to identify the overall cost of providing care and treatment for each of these conditions.

Health

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail its policies on issues relating to smoking and tobacco.

Susan Deacon: The White Paper Smoking Kills which was published on 10 December 1998 sets out a comprehensive strategy to combat smoking throughout the UK. The Scottish Executive endorses the White Paper as a framework for action. However, in taking the policy forward, we have been careful to ensure that the measures outlined are being specifically tailored to Scottish priorities and circumstances.

  A copy of the White Paper is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre [SPICe].

Housing

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what conclusions it has reached on the case for a single social tenancy following the recent Housing Green Paper and what implications there are, if any, for the Right to Buy.

Ms Wendy Alexander: A paper entitled A New Single Social Tenancy for Scotland: Rights, Obligations and Opportunities is today being placed in the Scottish Parliament Document Supply Centre. This sets out our proposals for delivering the commitment we made in Making it work together to promote a common tenancy agreement for all tenants in social housing.

Justice

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates were made during 1997-98 and 1998-99 in relation to the cost to the civil and criminal justice systems in Scotland of implementation of the European Convention of Human Rights.

Mr Jim Wallace: Following the Comprehensive Spending Review in 1998, provision was made for the Crown Office, the Legal Aid Fund and the Scottish Courts Service to take account of the cost of ECHR issues arising in criminal and civil proceedings under the Scotland Act and the Human Rights Act. The total provision which was made for these services principally in respect of the ECHR was £6.5 million in 1999-2000, £10.6 million in 2000-01, and £8.9 million in 2001-02.

Police

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to continue and expand the Strathclyde Police Witness Protection Programme after the current funding of the programme terminates in April 2000.

Mr Jim Wallace: Research into the effect of the Strathclyde Witness Protection Programme has been encouraging and we are currently considering whether to extend its funding further.

Prison Service

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it will take to ensure that convicted felons are unable to telephone the victims of their crimes from their place of incarceration.

Mr Jim Wallace: Under the Directions to the Prisons and Young Offenders Institutions (Scotland) Rules 1994 (as amended) a Prison Governor can prohibit a prisoner from making telephone calls to persons who have indicated to the Governor, in writing, that they do not wish to receive telephone calls from that prisoner.

Transport

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether recent press reports that it has abandoned its plans to introduce road user charges are true; if so, whether the press was alerted to this change by an Executive spokesman or through other official means, and why this change in policy was not first announced in the Parliament in accordance with the way the original plans were announced.

Sarah Boyack: On 4 November I announced to Parliament that, after extensive consultation, the Executive would not legislate in the forthcoming Transport Bill to permit motorway or trunk road charging on existing roads. Our proposals to allow local authorities, subject to the consent of the Executive in each case, to introduce local road user charges and workplace parking levies will still feature in that legislation, and this is entirely consistent with the original announcement which stated that we would undertake road user charging only where it was sensible to do so.

Transport

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how the proposed M74 Northern Extension compares to the M77 Fenwick to Malletsheugh in cost benefit terms.

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the discounted accident savings of the proposed M74 Northern Extension are relative to the M77 Fenwick to Malletsheugh scheme.

Sarah Boyack: I refer Mr Gibson to pages 112-115 of the report on the Strategic Roads Review which was published and made available to Members on 4 November.